Continue Reading Stone v. Alameda Health System, One Year Later
U.S. Supreme Court Decides New Rule for Government Officials and Social Media
On March 15, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision in Lindke v. Freed an important case concerning state action, the First Amendment, government officials, and social media. The decision provides clarity on how First Amendment free speech standards apply to government officials in curating public comments on their social media pages.
In
Don’t Stay Silent In An Era of Quiet Quitting
What is “quiet quitting?” After a recent tiktok post went viral, as described below, quiet quitting has been all over social media and the internet. A google search on “quiet quitting” turns up 315,000,000 hits! But what exactly is quiet quitting, where did it come from, and what should public agency employers do about it?
Ninth Circuit Provides New Guidance For Defining Protected Speech Under the First Amendment And The Permissible Scope Of Social Media Policies
Social media sites have become the new “public square” where individuals share opinions and information about all types of political and societal events. Public sector employees, as much as anyone else, use social media to post viewpoints and to participate in public debate. Problems arise, however, when a public employee posts harsh, derogatory, defamatory, or
Public Officials Who Block Users on Social Media May Be Violating the First Amendment
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in Garnier v. O’Connor-Ratcliffe that public officials violated their constituents’ First Amendment rights by blocking them from the public officials’ social media accounts that were used for official duties.
School District Trustees Block Two Parents on Social Media
In Garnier, Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane,
Discontinuing A Business Relationship Can Raise First Amendment Concerns
A recent case has made clear that a government agency’s ceasing doing business with a company based on the viewpoints of the company’s owners can lead to First Amendment liability for the agency. Earlier this year, in Riley’s American Heritage Farms v. Elsasser, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (the
Government-Hosted Social Media – How To Avoid First Amendment Claims
This post appeared in April 2018. It has been reviewed and is up to date.
Social media and the First Amendment is a fascinating and quickly-developing area of the law. All types of business organizations have a social media presence, for example, a Twitter page or Facebook account, and often on their own websites
A SWAT Sniper’s First Amendment Rights Impact a Police Department’s Ability to Discipline Him For a Facebook Posting
In 2015, someone shot a police officer and a suspect was later arrested. While off-duty, a SWAT sniper commented on a friend’s Facebook post which linked to an article about the shooting. He wrote, “It’s a shame he didn’t have a few holes in him.” An anonymous tip came in about the post, there was
Annual Review of the Strange and Unusual Employment Cases
Once again we take a look at the truly odd and remarkable employment cases from near and far.
Tweet the Gift Horse in the Mouth and You Might Be Shown the Door
An American company’s annual holiday gift to Canadian employees was a bottle of barbeque sauce and a grill scraper. One of the employee